Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 797 Three Mountains
Zhao Yi decided to take advantage of the surrounding Xixia troops to attack Liu Qi, seize Liangzhou, then seize Ganzhou, control the Hexi Corridor, and cut the Xixia Kingdom in half.

The Liangzhou garrison was not transferred away, after all, they were the enemy right in front of them.

However, without the Western Xia army to distract them, the Wu army concentrated all its efforts on attacking Liangzhou and still had an overwhelming advantage.

After four days of fierce attack on Liangzhou, Wu's army finally broke through the city defenses and successfully entered Liangzhou.

Zhao Yi was overjoyed, feeling that her decision was extremely correct, and immediately led the central army into Liangzhou City.

Upon learning that the remnants of the Liangzhou garrison had fled to Ganzhou and that the vanguard of the Wu army had already pursued them, Zhao Wei immediately ordered the army to catch up.

He didn't expect that it would only take four days to capture Liangzhou City.

Since it only took four days to capture Liangzhou, even if it took twice as long to capture Ganzhou, it would only be eight days. He even dreamed of completing the task in one go and then capturing Suzhou.

Wu Mian, the vanguard general of the Wu family army, received the order and led 30,000 troops to attack day and night, pursuing and attacking fiercely.

Eight or nine thousand Liangzhou defenders escaped, but they were relentlessly pursued by Wu's army. It took only four and a half days to catch them up to the city of Ganzhou.

At this time, the Western Xia army also made a major mistake.

They mobilized their main forces to encircle and annihilate Liu Qi, taking advantage of the time difference and betting that the Wu family army would not be able to react in time.

So in order to ensure success in one fell swoop, they deliberately set up a false formation around Wu's army, but in fact all the main forces had withdrawn.

Only the enemy in front of Liangzhou City did not move a single soldier.

Among the troops they transferred was a main force of the Gansu Military Command.

This main army usually garrisoned in Ganzhou City, but at this time it joined the encirclement and suppression of Liu Qi's army, leaving Ganzhou empty.

When transferring this force, the Western Xia army also made arrangements to transfer troops from Suzhou to reinforce Ganzhou.

Anyway, since Ganzhou could not be taken, the Song army could not reach Suzhou City.

However, the Xixia reinforcements from Suzhou had not yet arrived, and Zhao Yi, who had defeated the master with random punches, let the main force of the vanguard army pursue them relentlessly, and actually chased them to the outskirts of Ganzhou city.

The number of troops defending Ganzhou was limited, and even with the addition of approximately 5,000 soldiers and horses that escaped from Liangzhou, the defense was still extremely weak.

However, due to the rapid pursuit of the Song army and the lack of large-scale siege equipment, although the walls of Ganzhou were not high and thick, they could not be conquered for a while.

Both sides were at a disadvantage, and the fighting continued for another five days. The people in the city were exhausted, and the Song army's reinforcements continued to arrive. Ganzhou City was on the verge of collapse.

At this time, another order from Zhao Yi, the military envoy, arrived:
The front army rested and stopped attacking the city, waiting for the main force to arrive and bring large siege equipment to avoid excessive losses.

Wu Mian looked at the Ganzhou city wall, which had collapsed in many places and was in ruins, and the Xixia soldiers on the wall who were obviously short-handed, and he wanted to ignore the general's orders and continue the siege.

With his experience, he would be able to capture Ganzhou and complete the established strategy in half a day.

By then, even if they did not continue north to seize Suzhou, their strategic goal would have been achieved.

At this time, sending troops to attack and block the rear of the Western Xia army that was besieging Liu Qi would force the Western Xia army to send troops to prevent the Song army from continuing to expand its victory along the Hexi Corridor, which would save the Song army from a critical situation.

However, looking at the war supervisors and messengers sent by Zhao Wei, Wu Mian struggled in his heart again and again, but finally chose to obey the general's orders.

Zhao Yi was the military inspector and a close minister whom the emperor trusted very much.

The Wu family's power has aroused the fear of the imperial court. The sudden and bizarre death of the twelfth young master is the result of the game between the Wu family and the imperial court.

Wu Mian did not dare to take the risk. Zhao Yi was a civil servant, a military supervisor, and a close confidant of the emperor. There were plenty of ways to kill him.

He could only sound the call to call back his troops and wait for Zhao Yi to arrive with the central army.

Zhao Wei urgently ordered the vanguard army to stop attacking the city because he was afraid that Wu Mian would take down Ganzhou.

The speed at which the Wu family army captured Liangzhou City was beyond his expectations.

By the time he led the central army to Liangzhou City, everything had been settled.

It would be a pity if Ganzhou was defeated again without him as the head coach.

If he, the commander-in-chief, was here and conquered Ganzhou in one fell swoop, it would be tantamount to gaining the "merit of being the first to ascend the mountain!"

He, Zhao Yi, is just a scholar, but he will become a Confucian general famous for generations to come. At least he can be granted a title of nobility!

Therefore, he sent out three messengers in succession, ordering Wu Mian to rest in front of the battlefield and stop attacking the city with military orders, while he himself rushed straight to Ganzhou City in a hurry.

The afternoon before Zhao Wei arrived at the city of Ganzhou, the Western Xia Suzhou reinforcement corps arrived in Ganzhou from west to east and entered the city of Ganzhou from the west gate.

By the next day, when Zhao Yi led the central army to the east gate of Ganzhou, there were more than 70,000 Song troops under the city of Ganzhou.

There were a total of 80,000 Song troops along this route, 10,000 of whom were left behind in Liangzhou, and the rest were gathered under the city of Ganzhou.

At this time, Ganzhou had 12,000 original defenders, 5,000 remnants who escaped from Liangzhou, 15,000 reinforcements from Suzhou, plus young and strong men recruited from the city, totaling nearly 40,000 soldiers to defend the city.

After only one battle, Wu Mian realized that something was wrong. The strength of the city had greatly increased, and it was obvious that they had sufficient reinforcements.

Wu Mian immediately suggested that Zhao Yi retreat with his entire army and retreat to Liangzhou, with 30,000 troops guarding the city and resisting Ganzhou to the west, and the rest of the troops going to rescue Liu Qi.

This was undoubtedly a hard slap in the face for Zhao Xi.

You have taken Liangzhou, and you almost took Ganzhou as well. The city walls have gone through several battles, but as soon as I arrived, you said to call off the troops and retreat to Liangzhou?
Zhao Yi's face was cold as he ordered the army to attack Ganzhou City.

He did drag all the heavy siege equipment over, but he also lost the opportunity to fight.

The Song army fought 23 battles at the gate of Ganzhou for 11 days and 11 days. There were corpses everywhere on the city walls and outside the city, but Ganzhou City remained standing.

At this time, the Song army attacking the city was exhausted and their food and fodder supplies could not keep up.

Zhao Yi, who had refused to withdraw his troops despite seven or eight admonitions from his generals, finally realized the danger of dragging it out and gritted his teeth and gave the order to withdraw.

When the Song army retreated, the Western Xia army in Ganzhou immediately sent out cavalry to pursue and harass them.

Fortunately, the Wu army was well-trained and took the initiative to withdraw, so the retreat was orderly, and there was no big opportunity for the Western Xia army to expand the victory. But when they finally arrived at the foot of Liangzhou City, they found that the flag of Western Xia was already flying on the top of the city.

It turned out that part of the Ganzhou defenders used cavalry to bypass the main siege force of the Song army and attacked their rear.

When the two sides were in a stalemate, the Western Xia soldiers who were besieging Liu Qi's troops also drew a group of troops from Zhuolu and the Southern Army Division, and together with the surprise attack by the Western Xia army, they attacked Liangzhou from the east and west.

The Xixia people in Liangzhou city also took the opportunity to stir up trouble and cause chaos in the city. Under the attack from both inside and outside, Liangzhou was lost.

Upon seeing this, generals such as Wu Mian advised Zhao Yi to attack Liangzhou City by force.

After all, there were not many Western Xia defenders in Liangzhou, and the city was severely damaged after repeated battles. The Song army still had a chance to recapture Liangzhou City.

However, Zhao Yi, who had been radical before, no longer had the courage to fight wildly.

He was afraid of repeating the mistake he made at Ganzhou City, where the entire Song army would have been wiped out.

So, he ignored the advice of his generals and ordered the entire army to bypass Liangzhou City and retreat quickly to Xining Prefecture.

If they retreated further at this time, the morale of the three armies would have been extremely low, and the weather was getting colder and the accumulated water had turned into a thin layer of ice.

There is a serious shortage of food and fodder.

Due to the loss of Liangzhou, the army was cold and hungry before arriving in Xiningzhou, without even winter clothes.

Coupled with the low morale caused by the series of attacks and escapes, the Western Xia cavalry, who were chasing closely, began to seize the opportunity.

The Song army fought while retreating and suffered heavy losses.

By the time they retreated to Xining Prefecture and finally stabilized their position, only 50,000 of the 70,000 troops were left, and many of them were almost losing their combat capability due to injuries and frostbite.

Wu Gong, who was originally going to Huangyangchuan to take over, hurried to Xining Prefecture and joined up with his army.

After taking over the command, Wu Gong immediately deployed defense lines in Xining Prefecture, Lezhou, Lanzhou, and Huizhou, and then headed towards Roulang Mountain to search for the whereabouts of Liu Qi's main force.

Liu Qi's troops were trapped on Roulang Mountain, which is close to Huizhou, which is currently under the control of the Song army.

However, the only main road from Huizhou to Roulang Mountain was cut off by the Western Xia army. With the limited military force in Huizhou, it was simply beyond their ability to break through the defense line and accept the withdrawal of Liu Qi's troops.

The four-state Ao-shaped defense line deployed by Wu Gong was more than adequate for defense, but if they wanted to move and fight again, they would be held hostage by the pursuing Western Xia army.

Liu Qi's troops were cut off from supplies. If they could not be rescued in time, the only result would be that they would all be buried here after the mountain was blocked by heavy snow.

Wu Gong had no time to ask the court for instructions, and his only hope was Yang Yuan.

An urgent military letter was sent from Xining Prefecture via Lezhou and Lanzhou to Tianshui.

At this time, Yang Yuan had moved his troops to Tianshui for nearly half a month.

Li Qinglu and Wanyan Ping were sent back to Xinjin by him.

He hoped that Shangguan Luo could understand his intentions and not just think about the conflict between them.

If he wanted to eat the fruit, he had to do it himself. Yang Yuan would not cut the fruit plate and then feed it to him.

Before this, he had already received the news that Wu Shuai was critically ill.

However, Marshal Wu died of illness and did not wait for his successor to arrive. The military supervisor acted on his own and launched a radical retreat, resulting in heavy losses. Yang Yuan had no news about the fact that Liu Qi's troops were trapped in a dangerous area.

When he received the military letter, his face changed suddenly.

He didn't expect that the war in Western Xia would suddenly develop into this situation from being so promising.

This scene is very similar to the historical battles between the Song army and the Western Xia, where the Song army's victory suddenly turned into a disastrous defeat time and time again.

Every time, it was due to some unpredictable reasons that led to local defeat.

Then, like a domino effect, it caused a series of disastrous failures.

This domino game originated in the Northern Song Dynasty and was introduced into the palace during the reign of Emperor Gaozong Zhao Gou. Yang Yuan also saw Zhao Qu play this domino game.

It was brought back to Europe from China by a missionary in the early 19th century and became popular.

This mistake immediately led to a series of failures. Ultimately, it was because there were major flaws in the political and military systems of the Song State.

This is why when problems arise, not only will they not be solved in a timely manner, but more serious problems will arise.

At this moment, what shocked Yang Yuan was that from the straight-line distance, he was not far from Liu Qi's troops, only more than 200 kilometers.

But the problem is that if you really want to get there, you need to go around many mountains and detour into the territory of Western Xia, so the road is very long.

Can Liu Qi hold out until he can send his troops to rescue him?

Yang Yuan was not in a hurry to send out troops. He stared at the sand table for more than an hour.

From Roulang Mountain to Tianshui, there are Mindie Mountain in the west, Maiji Mountain near Huating in the middle, Liupan Mountain between Jingning and Tianshui, and hills and valleys in between.

If you go over the mountain...

These chasms are, of course, not completely insurmountable.

The Qin army once crossed the Liupan Mountain, the Xixia army also crossed the mountains to attack Guanzhong, when Genghis Khan attacked Xixia, the Yuan army also crossed many mountains, and Xu Da of the Ming Dynasty...

However, the difficulty of climbing the mountain is self-evident, and the timing of his arrival...

The mountain is about to be closed due to heavy snow. Do you want to take the risk?

If we follow the routine, it may be too late...

"Over the mountain!"

Yang Yuan punched the sand table. Now that things had come to this, he had no choice but to climb the mountain!
(End of this chapter)